A tweet about breast-feeding puts spotlight on Newport woman

Feb. 26, 2014

Updated 10:38 a.m.

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Six-week-old Seamus Jaynes' parents joke that he'd be famous, but little did they know it would be so soon. His mom Lindsay Jaynes, 30, of Newport Beach became the center of controversy when she asked Delta Airlines about their breastfeeding policy onboard flights. Delta said she could breastfeed, but covered up, then later retracted that statement. The issue exploded on Twitter. She's received more than 3,000 messages from supporters and those critical of public breastfeeding. CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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David Jaynes asks, "Do they (Delta) expect her to breastfeed in the bathroom and tie it up for 30 minutes?" at his Newport Beach home. The frequent traveler advised his wife to call the airline before her Orange County to Sarasota, Florida flight in March. Her inquiry set off a breastfeeding backlash on social media sites. CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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David and Lindsay Jaynes refused Delta Airline's "$400 gift of inconvenience," from the CEO's assistant, according to Lindsay. "I didn't want to send out the wrong message," the first-time mom says. The couple wants Delta to put a breastfeeding policy on their website. She holds their six-week-old son Seamus at their Newport Beach home. CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Lindsay Jaynes of Newport Beach says she's received more than 3,000 messages from supporters and those critical of public breastfeeding. She holds her six-week-old son Seamus in his travel themed nursery. They plan to travel to Florida to visit family in March. CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Lindsay Jaynes, 30, of Newport Beach demonstrates how nothing can be seen while breastfeeding her six-week-old Seamus despite not using a blanket. Bottle feeding is also not an option. He recently underwent a surgical frenectomy for a lip and tongue tie and can latch onto the bottle. CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Six-week-old Seamus Jaynes' parents joke that he'd be famous, but little did they know it would be so soon. His mom Lindsay Jaynes, 30, of Newport Beach became the center of controversy when she asked Delta Airlines about their breastfeeding policy onboard flights. Delta said she could breastfeed, but covered up, then later retracted that statement. The issue exploded on Twitter. She's received more than 3,000 messages from supporters and those critical of public breastfeeding.CINDY YAMANAKA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

When a Newport Beach woman decided to ask a Delta Air Lines customer service representative about its breast-feeding policy via Twitter, she had no idea the exchange would spark controversy on social media.

But Lindsay Jaynes' experience is just the latest example of how travelers are taking to Twitter to publicly air their gripes, and of how airlines increasingly are trying to resolve customer complaints before they blow up into public relations nightmares.

Here's the background: Jaynes was planning to fly next month with her 10-week old son to Sarasota, Fla., for a family visit. Before booking her flight, she went on Delta's website to find out the airline's policy on breast-feeding. When she found nothing, Jaynes on Friday morning decided to pose her question on Twitter.

“I wanted to be prepared with something in writing just in case there was any question on the actual flight,” Jaynes said.

“I knew about the woman kicked off a Delta flight before.”

That would be Emily Gillette, who was removed from a Delta Connections flight in 2006 after she refused to cover up while breast-feeding. At the time, Delta's breast-feeding policy wasn't clear-cut, and the action sparked a major PR hassle for the airline. Two years ago, Gillette and Delta reached an out-of-court settlement, according to an Associated Press report.

Still, on Friday, a Delta representative told Jaynes she wouldn't be permitted to breast-feed on board without covering up.

Jaynes told the representative that her son would not eat while covered, as it had been a problem for her in the past. When Jaynes asked for a suggestion, she was told she could pump and bring breast milk onto the plane.

Upset, Jaynes contacted breast-feeding advocacy groups, which retweeted her tweets. She said she received more than 3,000 messages from supporters and people critical of public breast-feeding. The backlash prompted an apology from Delta about 13 hours later.

But Jaynes' breast-feeding kerfuffle is only part of a bigger picture.

Delta and most major airlines now employ a person – or a small team of people – to monitor what the public is saying about them on social media, according to several published industry reports.

Two of the most active airlines on Twitter are JetBlue and Southwest, with 1.8 million and 1.62 million followers, respectively.

In addition to using social media to promote special fares and update customers on the status of flights, airlines often respond to gripes that go viral.

In February 2010, film director Kevin Smith got a public apology out of Southwest Airlines after he took to Twitter to gripe about being kicked off a flight from Oakland to Burbank because the admittedly overweight Smith couldn't comfortably fit into his seat. Smith said he usually reserves two seats but couldn't on that last-minute flight.

In Jaynes' case, the apology from Delta did not address the issue of covering up while breast-feeding. Jaynes said all she wanted was for Delta to post a policy on its website, making it easier for traveling mothers to find.

“We do not require mothers to cover up while breast-feeding,” Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur said.

Baur declined to say how often the issue of breast-feeding has come up for the airline. “We made contact with the customer and have apologized for the information.”

But finding other airlines' policies on the subject isn't easy. The websites for Southwest, United and American don't include any specific language on breastfeeding.

United Airlines, after a call to its customer service center, said the airline had no official policy or restrictions on breast-feeding. Southwest also said it had no official policy, that mothers were allowed to breastfeed on board its flights and were asked to “use good judgment and discretion.”

Jaynes said some of the attention she's received since her tweet war with Delta has been hateful.

“I don't think people understand that you see more in Victoria's Secret commercials than you do when I breast-feed without a cover. It's not about wanting attention. I'm just feeding my kid who totally freaks out at even the lightest sheet over his head.”

Jaynes said she's still debating which airline she will use for her flight. One thing she's not debating is the power of social media.

Jay Geer, an Orange County-based crisis communications consultant, said Jaynes' story underscores what he calls “the new age of customer empowerment” in which one voice can influence corporate policy to different outcomes.

One man has made a career out of a bad experience with an airline that he aired on social media.

After United Airlines damaged a guitar he had checked in as luggage, and then gave him the runaround for eight months, singer Dave Carroll in 2009 posted a YouTube video of himself performing a song, “United Breaks Guitars.”

The video has been watched more than 13.7 million times, and in 2012 it spawned a book, “United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media.”

Another singer's complaints attracted a lawsuit.

Upset that all of her children were not allowed to board early with her on a Southwest flight in March 2011, Nashville-based performer Natalie Grant blasted the airline's customer service in a flurry of tweets to her 187,000-plus followers.

A Southwest employee she identified by name, however, took exception. She sued Grant for defamation and portraying her in a false light. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit, but an appeal courts allowed the false light portion of the suit to go forward, according to a report by Nashville Scene.

Media expert Geer said that because airline travel is stressful, consumers are more likely to moan publicly about customer service – and others are more likely to listen.

Airlines, he added, should be listening carefully.

“It's important for companies, particularly those that deal with the public, to monitor social media sites hypervigilantly,” Geer said. “They can use it as a predictor of something that may be a negative or a positive.

“No company is invisible today,” he added. “Everyone is under the microscope.”

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